Job in the Arts

The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), a nonprofit performing and visual arts center located in Boston's South End, is seeking a new Executive Director. The Search Committee intends to identify the successful candidate by fall 2008 with full-time employment beginning shortly thereafter.

Compensation will be competitive with similar positions throughout the country and will be negotiable. The range of benefits includes medical insurance, vacation pay, paid sick leave, and a 403(b)-retirement program.

The consulting firm retained to assist in the search will welcome qualified applications:

Stephen J. Albert and Thomas Hall
Albert Hall & Associates
942 Main Street #300
Hartford, CT 06103
Tel: (860) 808-3000 #321
Fax: (860) 808-3009
Email preferred:salbert@alberthallassociates.com

Artists Websites: Chawky Frenn

My good friend Lebanese-American painter Professor Chawky Frenn is a DC area painter who needs little introduction.

Having proved several times to be one of the the most controversial figurative artists in the United States, Frenn was born in Zahle, Lebanon and migrated to the United States in the 1980s. He is a currently a professor on the Art faculty at George Mason University in Virginia.

Art critic Donald Kuspit, one of the most visible art voices of the 21st century, has written that Frenn "constructs a spiritual space in which the contemporary public can feel emotionally at home, however troubling the emotions his imagery evoke in them."

The New York Times wrote that "Chawky Frenn is a painter who has nailed down the figurative mode, and this accomplishment gives him the license to convey anything he wants, including the grand theme: the elusive meaning of human existence."

The Washington Post wrote: "From a classical nude contemplating a human skull to his latest series of still lifes of slaughtered animal carcasses, Frenn is an artist's artist (as opposed to a critic's artist)."

Frenn's works are used to controversy. In 2001, his Boston gallery decided to cancel a Frenn solo show at the last minute as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In 2004, his exhibition at Dartmouth caused an uproar on campus. Frenn, who was exhibiting at the same time at Damien Hirst, managed to outshock Hirst.

Visit his website here.

2008 Lucelia Artist Award Nominees

The Smithsonian American Art Museum announced a few days ago the nominees for the museum's 2008 Lucelia Artist Award.

The 15 nominees are Doug Aitken, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Slater Bradley, Matthew Buckingham, Mark Dion, Keith Edmier, Spencer Finch, Harrell Fletcher, Mark Grotjahn, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Rachel Harrison, Zoe Leonard, Suzanne McClelland, Wangechi Mutu and Dana Schutz.

Nominated artists work in a diverse range of media including film, installation, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture and video.

The one artist in this list that continues to be a question mark for me is Dana Schutz.

OAS Show

Artsy Raincoats


Ahhh... the glamorous life of an art dealer...

Earlier this year we peddling art at a New York art fair, and when the fair ended one day, at the end of the day all the gallerists marched out as the building closed.

Except that it was raining out like a Florida rain; buckets and buckets of water. The sidewalks were like rivers, with at least a couple of inches of running, dirty New York City sidewalk water covering shoes and sandals.

You don't want your feet soaked in NYC sidewalk dirty water.

So everyone had to wait until the monsoon ended, and slowed down to a trickle. Since we didn't have umbrellas or raincoats, a little tape and bubbling wrap and voila!

Art on Trial

Souheil Chemaly turns us all onto Art on Trial.

Developed in part to increase public awareness of such restrictions, Art on Trial is a virtual exhibit of artworks that were once at the center of actual courtroom battles.

Check it out here.

The collector's mind

Edward Sozanski, the Philly Inky's art critic has an interesting article titled Art: What motivates big collectors to do what they do?

The Cone sisters of Baltimore, Claribel and Etta, might have seemed eccentric to some of their contemporaries, not only because they continued to dress like staid and proper Victorians well into the 20th century but also because they collected avant-garde art.
Anyone who has seen the Matisse-rich Cone collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art will realize that the sisters - who otherwise lived the most conventional of spinster lives - were more aesthetically adventurous than 99 percent of Americans who witnessed the birth of the modern world.

Like Albert C. Barnes, a contemporary of younger sister Etta, they enthusiastically patronized the two most prominent European modernists, Picasso and Matisse, along with other progressive artists such as Cezanne and Gauguin.

Mainly, though, they concentrated on Matisse. Of the approximately 3,000 objects in the Cone collection in Baltimore, about 500 are by him, the largest group of Matisse works anywhere.

Even since I first visited the collection years ago, I've wondered how and why two Victorian spinsters from a wealthy but nonartistic mercantile family made such an astonishing conceptual leap. The question of what ignites such a passion for collecting art never fails to fascinate.

Read the article here.

China detains American artist

An American artist who planned to use laser beams to flash "free Tibet" on buildings in downtown Beijing was detained Tuesday, according to a colleague and a pro-Tibet group.

James Powderly, co-founder of Graffiti Research Lab in New York, was detained before dawn as he prepared to use a handheld green laser to project messages on prominent structures in Beijing, according to Students for a Free Tibet.

Powderly's colleague, Nathan Dorjee, said in New York that he received a text message from the artist which said he had been detained around 3 a.m. by police.

Officials at Beijing's Municipal Publicity Security Bureau did not answer phone calls Tuesday night. His whereabouts remained unknown, the group said.

Read the AP story here.

New Drawing

"World History." Charcoal on paper, c. 2008. 20 x 16 inches
By F. Lennox Campello

Has been decided already

Didn't we already have this "controversy" a few decades ago with Sally Mann's photos of her children? And didn't we all decide back then that it was art and not pornography?

So why is it an issue with photographer Betsy Schneider?

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 1, 2008

1708 Gallery is seeking exhibition proposals from artists and curators for its 2010 exhibition season. 1708 Gallery is a non-profit space for new art committed to expanding the understanding, development and appreciation of contemporary art. The Gallery provides public exposure and opportunity to emerging and established artists internationally. By showing art that questions, challenges, and redefines the social and aesthetic boundaries of the visual arts, 1708 Gallery offers an opportunity for the public to investigate, discover and be inspired by the most recent developments of contemporary art. Artists and curators may submit proposals for single or group shows of all media. For an exhibition proposal form, please visit their website at www.1708gallery.org (under exhibitions and proposals).

Next deadline is September 1, 2008. For more information, please contact: Tatjana Beylotte at tbeylotte@1708gallery.org or 804/643-1708.

Two ops for photographers

Deadline: postmarked by August 29.

Washington School of Photography is seeking submissions for a juried show in their gallery to take place October 10, 2008. This is a national photography exhibit, which will coincide with their annual silent auction and is a venue on the Bethesda, MD ArtWalk. Fee to enter: $25/4, $5/addtl, slides or CD. More information and forms at www.wsp-photo.com or SASE to: WSP, 4850 Rugby Avenue, Bethesda, MD, 20814.

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Deadline: postmarked by September 29.

Washington School of Photography is seeking submissions for a juried show in their gallery to take place November 14, 2008. This is a regional photography exhibit open to camera club members residing in Maryland, DC, and Virginia, which will coincide with FotoWeek DC and is a venue on the Bethesda, MD ArtWalk. Fee to enter: $25/4, $5/addtl, slides or CD. More information and forms at www.wsp-photo.com or SASE to: WSP, 4850 Rugby Avenue, Bethesda, MD, 20814.

The Marlboro Gallery National Juried Sculpture Exhibition at Prince George's Community College features 21 artists from around the country (including one of DC's top creative sculptors: Adam Bradley).

My good friend Kristen Hileman, Associate Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden juried the show and will present awards during the reception on my birthday, September 6th, 4 – 7pm. The exhibition and cash prizes totaling $3500, including the $2000 Kari Beims Sculpture Award for Best in Show, was made possible through a generous donation from an anonymous patron of the arts.

I hear that Kristen put together a really interesting show and sounds like a really exciting even because the venue has been able to give sculptors place where they can show some substantially large work, and give away some significant monetary prizes.

Only Women Bleed

One of the judges of Australia's top religious art competition has resigned in vehement objection to a work that has been included in the finalists' short list.

Australian art critic and historian Christopher Allen resigned from the panel of judges after Adam Cullen's triptych Corpus Christi made the short list for the $20,000 Blake Prize for Religious Art.

Corpus Christi depicts Jesus on the cross with the inscription, "Only women bleed," a line from a song by rocker Alice Cooper.

Allen told ABC Radio that he did not like the painting, which he said "has a kind of deliberate ugliness that has been exploited as a gimmick."

Read the CBC News story here.

Man's got his woman to take his seed
He's got the power - oh
She's got the need
She spends her life through pleasing up her man
She feeds him dinner or anything she can

She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

Man makes your hair gray
He's your life's mistake
All you're really lookin' for is an even break

He lies right at you
You know you hate this game
He slaps you once in a while and you live and love in pain

She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

Black eyes all of the time
Don't spend a dime
Clean up this grime
And you there down on your knees begging me please come
Watch me bleed

Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

Art fairing

Art fairs have already proliferated to such an extent worldwide in recent years that they have begun to kill one another off.

Read the SF Chronicle story here.

Add a little more booze...

A new trend in the art business is flourishing at a moment when the economy is tight and sales are slow at galleries around town. What's the idea? Add a bar.

Read the Seattle Times story here.

Calling all Fridas!

Audition for Frida Kahlo look alikes at SFMOMA..


Details here... and there’s a third audition coming up this Saturday, August 16th!

My thoughts on...

Cooperative Galleries.

Vanity Galleries.

Commercial Galleries.

Made in China

DC painters Matt Seesow and Dana Ellyn spent most of July traveling throughout a huge chunk of China and they painted every chance they had, using supplies they bought there, with the results going on display this Saturday night at Longview Gallery in DC.

The free opening reception kicks off at 6 PM and is scheduled to go until 9PM.

Matt says that they "hit much of the 'must see' attractions while in China, so our work reflects a lot of that experience: Shanghai acrobats, pandas, Mao, Tiananmen Square, chickens, kitties, and all kinds of Communists. We missed the Olympics, bummer... no badminton or skeet shooting paintings... sorry."

Longview Gallery is at 1302 9th street, NW ... near the Convention Center/Gallery Place metro stops. The show runs through September 20th.

SAAM Acquires new Christo

The Smithsonian American Art Museum in DC has acquired "Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76, A Documentation Exhibition," the definitive record of the major early work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

The Christo and Jeanne-Claude's epic project consisted of the installation of the "Running Fence" (1972-1976), a white fabric and steel-pole fence, 24 1/2 miles long and 18 feet high, across the properties of 59 ranchers in Sonoma and Marin Counties north of San Francisco. The "Running Fence" existed for only two weeks; it survives today as a memory and through the artwork and documentation by the artists.

This is the first major Christo and Jeanne-Claude complete project archive to be acquired by a museum. It includes more than 350 individual items. With this acquisition, the museum has obtained nearly 50 original preparatory works by Christo, including 11 large-scale drawings — each eight-feet wide — and 35 additional drawings and collages he made in preparation for the final installation. The archive also includes a 68-foot long scale model, more than 240 documentary photographs by Wolfgang Volz in color and black-and-white, a film by filmmakers David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin and Albert Maysles, documents, 324 color slides and one nylon fabric panel and steel pole.

The artists will be at the museum to discuss the project on my birthday, Saturday, Sept. 6, following a screening of the award winning film "Running Fence" (1978), directed by the Maysles who have documented six of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's major projects.

Dark Clouds

In the last 2-3 weeks I've received at least half a dozen calls and emails from Miami art fairs whose deadline for application has passed, inviting us to apply to their fairs. That can only mean one thing: gallery applications are down.

Another possible sign of a slow down in the art fair market?

I'll skip Miami this year and look forward to a better 2009.

New Drawing

"Rear Nude"
Matted and Framed to 12.5 x 12.5 inches. Charcoal on Paper, C. 2008 by F. Lennox Campello

Wanna go to an Alexandria, VA opening?

The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association (NVFAA) will host an innovative new exhibit, TXT MSG, in the Athenaeum Gallery August 16 through September 21, 2008.

Featuring Four Letter Words by John James Anderson and Song for Europe by Mark Cameron Boyd, TXT MSG is an artistic exploration touching on letters as design icons, the meaning of words and how their impact resonates beyond their mere definition, and interactive experiences that reflect a world view of language and art.

Exhibition Dates: August 16 – September 21, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 16, 5:00 – 7:00 (no charge)
Song for Europe Gallery Talk, Sunday, September 7, 5:00 (no charge)

At Projects


Philly's Projects Gallery opens its 2008-09 season with Fresh! 2008. Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich and multi-faceted artistic talent, this invitational exhibition highlights this city’s emerging artists.

Selected by gallery Director Helen Meyrick because of her immediate visceral response to their work, these artists diversely employ sculpture, photography, painting and drawing.

Work by Catherine Badger, Rosanne D'Andrea, Talia Greene, Brooke Holloway, Carl Marin, Itsuki Ogihara, Marilyn Rodriguez-Behrle, Lynn Rosenthal, Mia Rosenthal, Krista Rothwell, Gregory Farrar Scott, Heather Sundquist, and others.

Both Cat Badger and Krista Rockwell were two of the students that I had earlier selected for my Early Look student shows in Washington, DC and Norfolk, VA.

Fresh! runs from Friday August 29 through September 27, 2008 with a First Friday artist reception September 5th, from 6-9 p.m.

At Hemphill

DC's Hemphill Fine Arts has a group show currently up showcasing recent additions to the gallery's inventory. Work by James Brooks, Jason Gubbiotti, Alfred Jensen, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Al Souza, Antoni Tàpies and Alma Thomas.

Through August 29.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 26, 2008

The Center for Civil and Human Rights announces a call to artists for "Learn Promote Defend", held December 10, 2008 at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Awards: Public art exhibition and potential to become part of CCHR's permanent collection. Open to all professional artists 18 years of age or older (as of January 1, 2008) from all geographic locations where this Competition is not prohibited or restricted by law.

Interested artists should interpret one or more articles of the UDHR (the preamble and thirty articles may be read here) and provide a Resume and Artist's statement.

Entries will be accepted in all two-dimensional visual arts media, including, but not restricted to: painting, drawing, watercolor, weaving, photography, prints, video, film and digital animation. The work entered may be traditional, representational or more experimental, but it must be based on one or more of the articles of the UDHR.

Jurors: Sylvie Fortin; Christopher Hauck; Jodi Hauptman; Louise Shaw. No entry fee. Download prospectus (PDF format) here or send a SASE to:

Center for Civil and Human Rights
50 Hurt Plaza
Suite 110
Atlanta, GA 30303.

Questions? Please contact Tiffany Powell at tpowell@cchrpartnership.org or call 404.658.1877.

Racist Ad

Already with one of the most disturbing histories as a nation, Spain's basketball team adds to it with this sad ad in a Spanish magazine, which depicts the Spanish Olympic basktetball team pulling back their eyes to mimic the Asian epicanthic fold.


Several of those players also play in the NBA. Sigh...

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 29, 2008

Accepting works for consideration on upcoming Eastern Seal stamps. Works should be a vertical drawing or painting of a lily, in watercolor, oil, pastels, colored pencil, or computer generated image. Size limitations: no smaller than 8-1/2” x 11” and no larger than 18” x 24”. White or off-white stock is preferred. Three entry categories available: Student; Adult (up to age 60); and Senior (over age 60). No entry fee. For more information, contact:

Easter Seals
Attn: Lisa Skaggs
230 West Monroe St.
Ste. 1800
Chicago, IL 60606

Phone: (312) 726-6200; or check website here.

Not Cute Enough

"Lin Miaoke, left, is shown during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on Friday. An official ordered her to lip-synch 'Ode to the Motherland' because seven-year-old singer Yang Peiyi, right, wasn't deemed cute enough."
Read the AP story here.

Artists' Websites: Cristina Montejo



I first saw Cristina Montejo's work at the last Artomatic in Washington, DC and was quite impressed by her work. She recently showed at the Corcoran's White Walls Gallery. See her work here.

Keep your eye on this artist.

Van Gogh's hidden portrait

A Vincent van Gogh portrait of a peasant woman that was painted over by the artist has been revealed in extraordinary detail through use of an x-ray technique that has never before been applied to a painting.



Research had previously disclosed the vague outline of a head behind the painting, entitled Patch of Grass, but the face of the woman emerged from the centre of the work only after the picture was subjected to x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

Read the story here.

Opportunity for Maryland Artists

Deadline: September 2, 2008 at 5 PM.

The Howard County Center for the Arts, a 27,000 square foot community facility located in Ellicott City, Maryland, is seeking proposals from artists for Art MD 2008, a biennial multi-media juried exhibit. The juror for Art MD 2008 is Leslie King Hammond, Graduate Dean, Emeritus, Director Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art. A minimum of $1,000 will be awarded by the juror.

The exhibit will be on view from October 31 – December 12, 2008 with a reception and remarks by Dr. King-Hammond on December 5, from 6-8pm.

Entry is open to all artists, 18 years or older, residing in Maryland or within a 100-mile radius of Ellicott City, MD. Artists may submit slides or digital images of up to three works completed in the last two years and not exhibited previously in the HCCA galleries. All work must fit through a standard doorway measuring 54” x 80” and fit appropriately in the HCCA galleries. The Center’s two galleries total over 2000 square feet, with 9 ½ foot high walls, professional track lighting and hardwood floors. There is a $20 ART MD entry fee. The fee is waived for current Howard County Arts Council members.

For entry details or more information call 410-313-2787, email info@hocoarts.org or visit the website www.hocoarts.org.

Sotheby's Profit Falls

Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, said second-quarter profit fell 11 percent after it shifted its London contemporary-art sales to the third quarter from the second.

... Chief Executive William Ruprecht said profit would have increased were it not for the new auction schedule. He said wealthy people with more than $100 million -- who are insulated from economic woes -- remain their best customers.

Read the story here.

Art for Life

The last day to submit a donation to Art for Life is Friday, August 15th. Please participate in this year's auction, by filling out your donation information online.

This event could not be possible without the generosity of artists like you. Your donation will truly make a life-saving difference for more than 13,000 clients that the Whitman-Walker Clinic serves. HIV/AIDS is at epidemic proportions in the District of Columbia. DC has the highest HIV rate in the nation – one in 20 adults in the District is HIV positive.

This year, Whitman-Walker will present the 15th annual Art for Life art auction, benefiting prevention services to communities of color. They and I invite you to participate in this very important cause by donating a piece of artwork. In addition to having your work and bio featured in 5,000 auction catalogues, your gift of art will provide the gift of HIV prevention and education, thus preserving the gift of life. While your work will be displayed in someone’s home, your generosity will ensure that we are able to get critical education information and testing opportunities in African-American and Latino communities.

You can donate online now or by calling (202) 797-3520.

A reception and art auction to benefit Whitman-Walker Clinic'sHIV/AIDS prevention services in communities of color will be held Friday, November 14, 2008, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Carnegie Institute of Washington (1530 P Street, NW, Washington, DC).

Cuban thoughts...

As far as I know, American companies are forbidden from doing business in Cuba's brutal dictatorship regime... and the only two items that can be imported from the prison island are books and art.

So... tonight as I watch (on TeleMundo) the graceful and powerful Cuban female beach volleyball team of Estevez and Crespo fight the equally powerful and graceful German team of Pau and Pohl, I notice that the Communist nation's bikini bathing suits sport the Adidas logo.

Why is Adidas sponsoring a Cuban team? (Update: Because they are a German company I am told)

Cuba is an imprisoned nation whose government segregates HIV+ people, and that has "cured" gay people by lobotomizing them, and that has a government that is one of the worst offenders of human rights in the world?

Is that what Adidas wants its name associated with? A gay-bashing, lobotomizing, HIV-segregating, human rights-violating, old-style Communist dictatorship?

And how does an American company (Adidas is American-owned... right???) get to do business with the Castro brothers' bloodstained regime? (Update: Because they are a German company I am told)

Shame on you Adidas...

Opportunity for young female photographers

As part of its 80th anniversary celebration, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the Organization of American States (OAS), in coordination with the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), invites all 11 to 14 year old girls from OAS Member States to participate in the Photography Contest “When I Grow Up…”

This competition aims to capture the vision young girls have about their future: their dreams, their personal and professional ambitions, and what they imagine that their world will be like when they reach adulthood. Through their photographs, the girls will reflect the evolving changes in gender stereotypes due to women’s empowerment. Moreover, they will illustrate how the new generations assess the progress achieved by women regarding their role in society and what is still to be achieved by young women such as themselves when they grow up…

Click here for terms and more information about the contest.

Opening Ceremonies Blues

I watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies last night, and while admiring the spectacular artistry and synchronization of 2008 humans on the field doing all sorts of unbelievable things, slowly this sort of mental connectivity to the Berlin Olympics from decades ago began to emerge.

When the Chinese soldiers goose-stepped to raise the Chinese flag, and the Chinese children representing the 50-odd ethnic groups in China began singing the Chinese national anthem while doing a curious arm salute to the anthem, at least for me the Olympic connection between Nazi Germany and Communist China was cemented in an odd way.

By the time that the ceremonies got to the part where China, perhaps one of the world's worst human rights offenders, and a nation who is destroying its own environment at a brisk pace, does the bit on the future of the planet, global warming, peace, etc. I was a way beyond skeptical about the heavy handed, sometimes hypocrythical messaging of the opening ceremonies.

Let's just get the competitions going, shall we?

The Chinese Art Market

In all this foment, the contemporary art scene is somewhat at a standstill. Yes, new records are being set for contemporary Chinese works at every successive Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction. And every foreign visitor to Beijing, art aware or not, now has to walk around “798”, the chic factory café and gallery area, formerly a wonderfully anarchic artist community. And it seems that “millions” are being made by all concerned within this bustling, over-heated art market. But the art itself isn’t moving. The big five names are all producing exactly the same cartoonish works they have done for years, because that is what sells. Every new artist who arrives on the scene produces not-so-subtle variants of that same work because that is what sells. And even reproduction specialists have switched from copying Degas, Monet and Rembrandt, to producing “genuine” Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun knockoffs, because…

Read the Art Newspaper article here.

Olympic Predictions

The Olympics start tomorrow - we'll be watching avidly and predict that:

Several Chinese athletes whom no one has ever heard of, will win gold medals in some arcane sports that no one watches.

An American sprinter, favorite to win a medal, will pull a muscle in one of the qualifying rounds.

Sullen-looking Russian female gymnasts will battle it out with very young Chinese gymnasts who never smile either, but somehow manage not to look sullen.

Cuban boxers with years and years of "amateur" experience will beat up on everybody.

Skinny African-born long distance runners will run for a variety of non-African nations - where they are now citizens - and sometimes still lose to someone still running for Kenya.

Because of the way that she looks, Americans (and only Americans) will wonder in silence how come Dara's last name is "Torres."

Some nation which has never won the FIFA World Cup will nevertheless win the Olympic gold medal for soccer.

The United States better win the gold medal in basketball or someone is getting their butt kicked.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund

Deadline: September 15, 2008

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund welcomes applications from visual artists aged 40 years or older, who live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. and can demonstrate that they have the potential to benefit as artists from a grant.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund does not, however, accept applications from filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists. In 2006 the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund awarded three grants totalling $50,000.

The deadline for applications is September 15, 2008. Application forms may be downloaded from the fund's web site: www.baderfund.org or may be requested by sending an email to grants@baderfund.org or by sending a request to:

Bader Fund
5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268
Washington, D.C. 20015

Wanna go on an art tour in DC?

On Saturday, August 9th at 11a.m., artist Craig Kraft and my good friend and art collector and founder of Pink Line, Philippa Hughes, will give a tour of the Foggy Bottom Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit – sharing their unique points-of-view with the audience.

"We are so excited about having both Craig and Philippa lead the tour," says Jill Nevius, Arts in Foggy Bottom organizer. "We think this will make for an informative and lively conversation about art."

The tour will begin at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and I Street NW (a few blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro) and there will be a reception to follow at the Watergate Gallery. You can download the brochure here which shows the pieces in the exhibit with a map of the neighborhood.

Wanna try for a book?

Deadline: September 5, 2008.

The Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography is a biennial prize offering $3,000 in grant money, inclusion in an exhibition, and most importantly, the publication of a book of photography, published by Duke University Press in association with CDS Books of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. To learn more, go to this website or send an SASE to:

CDS/THF First Book Prize in Photography
Center for Documentary Studies
1317 West Pettigrew Street
Durham, NC 27705

East of the River

Anacostia River that is, and "East of the River" is the title of the exhibition by Anacostia's 's Honfleur Gallery, as it celebrates its Second Annual East of the River Exhibition, opening 7pm on August 9th 2008. Site specific installation, photography, painting, mixed media sculpture, collage, prints, drawings, written & spoken-word and functional craft demonstrate the broad range of the works in the show. Exhibitors range from emerging to seasoned professional artists.

Artists in East of the River include: Randall C. Holloway, Stephen James Terrell, Kerry Richardson, Kamala Subramanian, Douglas Eatmon, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Matthew Mann, Dominic Bracco, Sherry Ways, Anne Bouie, Marcia Greene, Fred Joiner, Malik M. Lloyd, Bruce McNeil, Lance Wiggs, Wesley Clark, Brian Martin, Kerry Richardson, Amber Robles-Gordon, Beatrice Martin, Craig Vaughn, Howard Fleming, and Gilbert Trent. The exhibit was juried by Carl Cole (Ward 8 Commissioner, DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities), Kim Ward (Director, Washington Project for the Arts), Juanita Britton (Anacostia Art Gallery), Andrea Hope (ARCH) and Briony Evans (Honfleur Gallery).

The East of the River opening reception is on August 9th at 7pm. The exhibition is on view from August 12th to September 19th, 2008.

Art Auction Fundraising Tips

Enough said here.

How's Norfolk going to handle this?

If Norfolkians were offended by a work of art depicting female breasts, how are they going to react to the Aug. 23 "National Topless Protest Day"?

U.S.-based organization www.GoTopless.org claims that women have the same constitutional right as men to go bare-chested in public. What's more, the group is encouraging women nationwide to rally bare-chested in public on Aug. 23, the date selected for the organization's "National Protest Day."

"As long as men can go topless, women should have a same and equal right," said Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement and founder of GoTopless.org. "Otherwise, men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests."

Raelians consider a National Protest Day necessary because women who go topless in U.S. public places are currently arrested, fined, humiliated and treated as criminals.

"Women should go topless and rally publicly in great numbers on August 23 to protest that despicable treatment and exercise their rights," said San Diego resident Nadine Gary, a Raelian guide and one of the event's principal organizers. "We encourage all women's groups and individuals to join us at these rallies. Together, with peaceful femininity but unshakable determination, we'll protest this gross inequality in the law. We'll demand that our right to go topless be recognized in accordance with the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that all state laws be amended to reflect that right."

For more information about National Protest Day, visit www.GoTopless.org.

New Herndon, VA Gallery

Start making plans for your Labor Day weekend and plan to visit the new ArtSpace gallery during its grand opening event: "Paint Herndon" over labor day weekend (August 29th - Sept 1st).

Nationally recognized and regional painters are coming to town to compete for cash prizes. There will be an Artist's Award Event Monday Sept 1st at 6:00pm.

Wanna go to a DC opening this week?

"Turning the Page" has a reception this Thursday from 5-7PM. It is a virtual exhibit featuring the work of James W. Bailey, Cleve Overton, Kevin Kepple, and Michael Fitts. All of the artists were chosen from the previous WPA's Artist Directory and the ArtFile Online.

Curated by Jessica Granda and Lexi Kirsch.

Alison Sigethy

DC area artist Alison Sigethy is not only a very talented artist, but also a world-class kayaker, and currently Alison is part of a team kayaking across Arctic Canada to raise awareness and create community action in response to global warming.

You can keep track of Alison's progress in her blog here or read the official expedition blog here.

Allison was not too successful in fund-raising ahead of time, so she's deeply in debt from this trip. If you'd like to help out, any amount would be sincerely appreciated. Donate here or buy some artwork here.

Another "collector" horror story

The very talented DC area artist Cindy Ann Coldiron read my post on the collector horror story and then she sent me the following note:

Your story on the art sale and shipment reminded me of a long ago incident that occurred to me.

In this case I was on the buying side and the artist/painter had no role in it.

I was a young new attorney to the area and read that the Haitian embassy was having a painting exhibit/sale with part of the purchase price going towards charity. I really loved the exhibition photo that appeared in the Washington Post - it was a brightly colored cat in the tall grass - and thus I made a point to attend .

When I walked in I was handed a very clear list of instructions explaining the process for purchasing a piece of art. One was told not to remove any painting from the wall but to pay first and then let a staff member remove it after the purchase was done.

I paid $500 for the piece but when the staff member went to get the painting, it was not on the wall. She began to run around the room looking to see if anyone had it. She eventually found that an older gentleman had it in his possssion and this gentleman was rather displeased that he had to give it back.

She almost had to pry it from his hand!

I then looked some more around the room at some of the other art while she quickly wrapped it up and then I left with my purchase.

I was about a block away from the embassy when I had a feeling that I needed to look and check the painting. I unwrapped it and I saw that there was a big hole that had been punched/pushed through it.

Clearly the "gentleman" had punched his thumb through the painting (I guess he thought that if he couldn't have it, neither could I).

I took it back and they promptly refunded my money.

I guess that this shows that pettiness occurs at all levels.

Best Regards,

Cindy Ann Coldiron

Norfolk breasts cover-up hits mainstream media

The Virginian Pilot covers the whole "breast cover-up" at a Norfolk gallery. Read the story here and a second Pilot story is here.

Read the Portfolio Weekly story here.

Collector Horror Story

Protagonists: Single mother artist who has been making her living as an artist for the last 25 years while raising a child and a multimillionaire couple from the West Coast who have made millions as land lawyers.

At a well-known art fair, after haggling on the $2400 price, and because they claim to be collectors, the rich couple get a 10% discount from the artist and then the couple buys an original oil painting from the artist. They want the work shipped to Los Angeles, and the artist refers them to the professional shipper at the fair.

Then the multimillionaire couple complains about the shipping fee by the professional packers, and the artist offers to pack the work after the fair is over and ship it to them at a lesser cost. They agree (and save $100 in the process) and agree to have the artist charge the shipping fee to their credit card.

The artist packs the painting - which is an oil on board - by bubble wrapping it and boxing it and then she sends it via UPS to the couple in LA at a cost of $150.

The painting arrives at LA and then the artist receives a call from the wife, stating that there are some "scratches on the back of the painting" and "can she ship it back to the artist" so that the artist can fix them - remember that this is a painting on board, and the artist had painted the back of the painting a flat black to seal in the board... the back of the painting.

Even though this has zero effect on the visual integrity work, after the artist has the wife describe the damage, which the wife clearly describes as "scratches on the back," the wife also discusses making a claim against UPS for damage in shipment.

The artist asks if the box is damaged in the shipment and the wife says no, so the artist tells the wife that if the bix wasn't damaged, then the scratches could not have happened during the shipment process, and that it's probably some slight scratches from shipping the work back and forth to the fair and maybe even from hanging it, and that it doesn't affect the work, but that she will fix it anyway, by painting over the scratches on the back. She asks if there are any damages to the front and is told no.

So the couple ships the work back to the artist, using the artist's DHL account at a cost of $100 to the artist.

When the painting arrives, the artist is horrified to discover that a whole corner of the painting has been broken, and it is not in the box, a sure sign that the piece was broken before it was re-packed and sent back to the artist.

She calls the couple and the wife tells the artist that it was probably broken in transit and that the artist should make a claim against DHL. When the artist points out that the broken corner piece is not inside the box, the wife then changes the story and insists that the painting had originally arrived to them in the same condition when the artist shipped it from the fair.

The artist then reminds the wife that the wife had described initially the original damage as "scratches" on the back of the piece, and even reminds the wife that they had discussed the front of the painting and the wife had stated that there was no damage on the front.

Caught in the lie, the wife retracts her statements and says that she's "not an artist" and thus couldn't describe the damage. She also says that her interior decorator is now a witness that the painting had arrived broken.

The artist tells the wife that she has three witnesses that the painting had not been broken when bubble wrapped and boxed, and since the shipping box showed no exterior damage, and since significant force was needed to break the board (such as dropping it from a height or stepping on it), logic indicated that the damaged had occurred after the painting arrived at LA.

Wife ceases communicating and then later calls the artist and tells her that she's put a stop payment on the credit card charge.

What I think happened: The painting arrived, possibly with some minor scratches on the back of the board. The wife being the asshole that she proved to be, wanted them fixed. At one point when the artist (on the first conversation on the issue) asked what the big deal was if the scratches were on the back, and was told that when they had hung the painting on the wall, they could see the scratches -- the painting has a base that floats the board away from the wall -- indicating that they had hung an OK painting on the wall at least once. Then at some point the painting was dropped by the couple and the corner broke, or more likely, the laid it flat on the floor and then accidentally stepped on the floating corner and broke it -- it takes a lot of pressure to break this board.

Then, instead of being good people, they decided to screw a single mother artist out of $2100, plus $150 shipping to LA plus $100 shipping back to the artist.

Multifuckingmillionaires who this weekend will probably go to their place of worship and pretend to be good, decent people.

On behalf of all artists in the world: fuck you!

New Art Prize

The West Collection in Philadelphia, is in the process of launching a new prize called the West Prize which will award $125,000 to ten different artists internationally.

Further information on the prize can be viewed at www.westcollection.org.

Not my fault...

In the last three or four weeks I have been home less that two days in a row... thus the lightness of posts.

Still on the road by the way, and heading to California soon...

FotoWeek DC Call For Entries‏

Today, FotoWeek DC issued a call for entries to the first annual FotoWeek DC Photography Competition, as part of its mission to establish itself as the "nation’s premier photography festival."

The first annual FotoWeek DC celebration will take place between November 15 and November 22, 2008. In addition to the photography competition, FotoWeek DC will feature gallery openings, lectures, educational workshops, portfolio reviews, book signings, and special offers on photographic services and merchandise from local area retailers.

The FotoWeek DC Photography Competition is open to all professional, amateur and student photographers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia and will feature over $37,000 in cash and prizes, including a $5,000 cash award for Spirit of Washington, DC, and will culminate in a gala awards ceremony and dinner to be held at National Geographic’s Headquarters in downtown DC on Saturday, November 22. National Geographic is one of the principal sponsors of FotoWeek DC.

The FotoWeek DC Photography Competition will recognize, highlight and honor the most talented professional, student and amateur photographers across the metro DC, Virginia and Maryland area, celebrating their achievements in the community of their peers through submissions of work in six categories. Competition finalists will have their work displayed at the FotoWeek DC Gallery and Welcome Center in Georgetown.

Prominent professionals in photography will serve as jurors, including uberphotographer Joyce Tenneson (with tons of DC area roots and one of the world's leading fine arts photographers), my good friend and the Corcoran Gallery of Art's photography curator Philip Brookman, Pulitzer-prize winning photographer Deanne Fitzmaurice and many others.

For information on eligibility, entry fees, categories, entry requirements, prizes and deadlines, and the complete list of judges, please visit the FotoWeek DC website here.

This is a good thing; go forth and participate.

Read this

Washington Speaks

Campello Reviewed

No, not me, but my daughter Elise gets reviewed again in "Beauty and the Beast" - A quote:

Elise Campello plays Belle just as she should: as a strong-willed smartypants who happens to also be a stunner. Campello's rich voice is showcased in such tunes as "A Change in Me," which will produce goosebumps.

Read the Herald review here.

She's going to New York soon... stand by for waves.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: August 4, 2008

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, in conjunction with Sacramento County, invites artists to submit qualifications for potential inclusion in a pre-qualified artist database for upcoming public art opportunities at the Sacramento International Airport.

This project, with a budget of $5 million, is the largest public art project in the history of the County. A number of selection panels will be established to review applications for the purpose of establishing a pool of qualified artists working in a variety of media. Media appropriate to the Airport Art Program includes sculpture, ceramic, mosaics, art glass, multi-media, artist-designed lighting elements, or any other durable materials suitable for long-term exposure in an airport environment.

Information of the Airport Art Program and an application form may be found at this website.

Opportunity for Video Artists

Deadline: September 30, 2008

Current Gallery invites video artists and enthusiasts to submit videos of all genres (experimental, animation, music video, documentary, short, home video, outtakes, unfinished films, scientific studies, etc). Works selected from this call will be featured in baltimore vs. the world DVD publication due out this winter.

baltimore vs. the world will incorporate two separate DVD compilations. One DVD will feature selected works from around the world and the other DVD will focus on selected works from Baltimore, Maryland. Accompanying the DVDs will be a booklet with interviews and support materials.

How to Apply: Please visit www.currentspace.com to download application.

In case you haven't seen it...

Plein Air Easton, Part I is here... and the art market is not dead in Easton!

Art Talk Tonight

Tonight at 7PM I will be at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland giving a spirited talk on art history and collecting art.

See ya there!

No breasts allowed to be seen in Norfolk, Virginia

You may recall that a while back I curated a student show titled "Early Look" for the Longview Gallery in DC.

That show featured work by undergrad art students from schools along the Mid Atlantic, and although ignored completely by the Washington press, it did rather well and sold a few key pieces at the show.

It also sparkled the interest of a second gallery in Norfolk, Virginia, Mayer Fine Arts, which offered the students a chance to exhibit their work in Norfolk.

This is how one of the student's work (Martyrdom by Philadelphia artist Erika Risko) was displayed in DC without any issues, and how it was then also hung and displayed for a few days in Norfolk:


Soon after the opening, the gallery owner received official communications directing was directed by the building's management to cover up the offending breasts. This is what they look like now:



And yet once again: Norfolk, please take the troglodyte spot light and be embarrassed in front of all America and the world.

Update: The owner has clarified to me that the building management's request to her to move the piece was because "people had complained about the nudity," and not because the management initiated the issue.

Inn at 202 Dover

Arrived today for my working stint at Plein Air Easton.

What a gorgeous little town this place has turned out to be: essentially a town made up of art galleries, cool restaurants, mom & pop shops, a town theatre, a couple of museums, and an amazing inn.

We're staying at the Inn at 202 Dover... a gorgeous place to stay and clearly a place where the owners have placed a lot of love and effort in refurbishing this 19th century home into a beautiful inn with a classy restaurant (which just happens to have a Cuban-born chef!).

We're staying at the Asian Suite, as each room in this world class inn has a specific motiff and focus. The room is decorated with beautiful Asian furniture and original Ukiyo-e woodblocks on the walls as well as a couple of rare antique Asian puppets.

And a steam shower... and a lounge room with a hi def TV and a decanter with sherry...

So far I am most definitely impressed. Just on day one this place gets my highest endorsement.

At 5:30PM we hung around for happy hour at the inn... and it didn't disappoint, as the chef popped in with some tasty food, which included what can be best described as my first exposure of what happens when Southern cooking (let's say fritters) meet Cuban food (let's say WOW!).

Then I walked over to a local restaurant called ... ah... called Restaurant Local, where we had some good happy hour vittles on their sidewalk tables, listening to a local play the guitar, and you won't believe this: a $5 pitcher of beer in a fancy restaurant!

So far Easton gets a rave review from me, and the Inn at 202 Dover is certainly the special place to stay if you ever come by to visit this beautiful Maryland spot.

We saw quite a few artists already painting out on the streets; more tomorrow as we begin to focus on the visual arts.

New Art Law

A committee in San Francisco’s city government has introduced a bill that would allow misdemeanour or felony criminal charges to be brought against any artist or financial backer who causes “the death, abuse or suffering of an animal” when making a work of art.

Read the Art Newspaper report here.

Things that I don't understand

When the price of oil goes up, about 16.75 seconds later it is reflected in the price of gasoline.

Oil has gone down $22 a barrel in the last couple of weeks (supply and demand as we're all driving a lot less!) - but I'm still waiting for the lower price to be really reflected in a lower price of gasoline.

Tough job

I am currently reviewing work and jurying the "8th Annual American Landscape" show for the Maryland Federation of Art, and let me tell you, with over 700 entries from around the nation, this is one tough jurying job, considering that about 30 pieces will be selected by me.

There's enough good photography in there alone to have just a terrific photography show! The opening reception will be September 14, 3-6 pm at the MFA's Circle Gallery in Annapolis.

Borrowing

With the stock market volatile and housing in a slump, many wealthy individuals are looking to tap another kind of equity — the kind hanging on their walls. Specialists at banks and auction houses say that more of their clients recently are interested in borrowing against their art collections.

Read the NY Sun story here.

Master Swindler

"A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century"

Read the WaPo review here and then buy the book here for $17.79.

Man Threatens to Impale Himself on Calder Sculpture

Mike Licht has the story here.

Saint Sebastian



New St. Sebastian drawing, charcoal, colored pencils and conte on paper. Matted and framed to 24x20 inches and still one of my recurring images.

Wanna arm wrestle an actual DC roller derby girl?

The Pink Line Project and Scion bring you Barrelhouse Magazine's Roller Derby issue launch this coming Friday, July 25, 6 - 10 pm at the District's Hillyer Art Space (behind the Phillips Collection on 21st Street, NW, between Q and R Street).

Check it out; there will be:
- a night of amazing roller derby themed stories and poems
- one gigantic roller derby mural (by Cory Oberndorfer)
- food eating
- beer (provided by Flying Dog Brewery) and wine drinking
- DJ dancing (music by DJ Adrian)
- video watching (Kyle Brannon!)
- Barrelhouse magazine buying.

All for a mere $10.

And of course, a rare opportunity to arm wrestle an actual DC roller derby girl!

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

Zenith's Alternative Gallery Space at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the nation's capital has an interesting show opening tomorrow curated by the ubercollector couple of Steve and Linda Krensky.

The show is titled "Reincarnations" as it features artworks created from found objects and recycled materials.

Meet the artists tomorrow, Wednesday, July 23, 5:30-8:30pm - the exhibition goes through September 28, 2008.

Work by Grif Bates, Chuck Baxter, Chris Bransome, Melissa Burley, Carolyn Cates, Scott Cawood, Randall Cleaver, Lee Connah, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Laura Dixon, Roger Doyle, Kristin Eager, Ed Gross, Jason Higgins, Andrew Krieger, SuAnne Lasher, Ara Laughlin, Susan Makara, Forrest McCluer, Bodil Meleney, Bogdan Miscevic, Elizabeth Morisette, John Pack, Jane Petit, Caitlin Phillips, George Sakkal, Rima Schulkind, Irma Spencer, Brad Taylor, Erwin Timmers, Mariano Perez Vivanco, Jodi Walsh, and Will Winton.

Commenting on the exhibit, Linda Krensky said, “For the most part, we chose the pieces based on the artists’ unusual interpretations and ability to create art from rather ordinary materials. Some of the pieces are beautiful, some amuse and others amaze.”

Mayor Nutter does good

Exciting news from Philly's City Hall Friday, as Mayor Michael Nutter announced the opening of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (Henceforth, OACCE), a Frankenversion of the old Office of Arts and Culture (OAC).

Read the post from Drama Queen here.

Names needed!

A while back I had this call for artists to donate to an auction for a great cause.

The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts has a major arts fundraising event coming up called ARTcetera 2008.

So many of you donated artwork that they will be arranging a DC area pick-up and need to know the names of the DC area artists who will be interested in having their work picked up at a central location. If you donated a piece to ARTcetera, please drop me an email at lenny at lennycampello.com soonest!

ARTcetera is a biennial creative black-tie contemporary art auction created and supported by a unique partnership between the visual arts community and the AIDS Action Committee. Guests enjoy fine food and beverages and bid on more than three hundred fresh works by acclaimed local, national and international artists. An exciting live auction and two silent auctions present works in a variety of media, sizes, and styles.

To donate work you had to fill out this form by July 3rd, 2008.

Let me know if you donated work.

Save the date

If you click on the image below, you'll get all the details on the coming production, "Hijos del Limbo" at Gala in DC.

Why am I promoting a theatre production in a visual arts blog? Because it involves the work of artist Alessandra Torres, who moved back to D.C. several weeks ago to work on this play, and has done all of the set designs, promotional photos, and designed the limited edition print below for the play. One of her photos appeared in the July 4th Weekend Section of the Washington Post, for upcoming entertainment events in the D.C. area.


It’s interesting to note that Alessandra, and the star of the show, Gabriela Fernandez, were good friends in Puerto Rico when they were children, and are now collaborating on this theater production in Washington, D.C., as adults! Needless to say, they are very excited about their work together, and I thought that you might like to come to one of the performances if you happen to be in D.C. from July 23-26. I think you would find the improvisational nature of the play interesting, and the theme intriguing!

This Week: Easton, MD

As I've discussed before, just four years ago Plein Air Easton got started as artists worldwide have begun to return to painting in the Plein Air style, and once again, as they did in 19th century Europe, are leaving their studios to paint and draw outside... on roadsides, on the beach, on top of mountains, in their gardens and yards, and even in city streets to capture landscapes, still lifes, figures and architecture in their natural elements.



I've said that I thought that the resurgence of this movement, much like it happened in Europe in the 19th century, may be a reaction to the overwhelming presence of technology in our daily lives. And that's OK; there's room for plein air painter and digital photographers and technogeeks artists in the art world.

The festival goes from Monday, July 21 - Sunday, July 27, 7:00am-5pm... but there are tons of associated events in the gorgeous and tiny Maryland village. All the details are here.

I will be speaking at 7PM at the Academy Art Museum on the subject of contemporary art, collecting, artists and art in general. I promise to make you laugh if you come by and you may just also learn a few things about art.

So, come on Saturday, July 26, 7:00pm - details here (scroll down).

See ya there!

Mattera on Kapoor

Joanne Mattera on Anish Kapoor: Read it here.

Goss on Figurative/Narrative

Sizzling Heather Goss reviews Figurative/Narrative at DC's Healing Arts Gallery. Read it here.

Inactive Art Career Syndrome

The WPA in DC is hosting some workshops for a new program called No Artist Left Behind, which will help artists to learn all the basics of documenting their work, including some tip and tricks to photographing their work, saving in correct file formats, and helping WPA members set up their ArtFile Online portfolios. The workshops are coming up soon, July 28 and 29.

Contact them here.

Australian John: Art Scammer

Remember this art scam?

Now a "John" from Australia is doing the same scam... be careful if you get an email trying to buy artwork.

The address in the scam email is:

128 Salmon Street
Port Melbourne, Melbourne 3207
Australia
Phone: 61 2 9498 6830

Frida Kahlo Talk and Lecture

Come by tomorrow to the Smith Farm's Healing Arts Gallery, where you can not only check out "Figurative/Narrative: Memories of a Presence," featuring work by Billy Colbert, Michael Janis and Paul Andrew Wandless, but also starting at 5:30PM I will be giving a talk and presentation on Frida Kahlo, focusing on her pain and how it affected her artwork and life.

I will discuss Kahlo in terms of an artist defined and iconized by her artwork, in spite of tremendous hurdles and problems.

Free and open to the public.

See ya there!

Wanna go to a DC opening tonight?

The head out to Katzen Museum, where from 6-8PM there will be an opening at the Rotunda for the the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY2009 Visual Arts Applicants' Showcase.

Opening Reception: July 16, 2008, 6:30 PM
Exhibition Hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Monday - Saturday July 17 - August 1, 2008

Katzen Arts Center
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016

See ya there!

My quote... mea culpa

It has been brought to my attention that a paraphrased quote that compares Tim Tate's groundbreaking advancement of fine arts glass to the groundbreaking work of Stieglitz in bringing photography to the fine arts arena, and which I have been generously attributing to a Washington and/or Washington Post art critic was actually initally coined by me several years ago for an essay on the exhibition "Compelled by Content."

After talking or emailing today to several of the folks who I thought had first coined the comparison, it's my memory who appears to be flawed and the comparison was initiated by me.

My fault and my apologies! An overzealous dealer with an overzelous mind. I enthusiastically believe that what Tim Tate is doing to glass is exactly what Stieglitz did to photography, but it is all my own biased opinion.

I will try to correct the source wherever it has appeared.

Gallery Closes: Gallerist Tells All

(Via J.T.) Chicago gallerist Lisa Boyle closes her gallery after four years and in frustration writes about the causes for her failure... here are some tidbits from her words:

Why is it so GOD DAMNED hard to sell a piece of art around here?...

...Oh now. To consider Chicago alone, it would be very easy to slide into that familiar unison of voices about how collectors here don’t collect, museums here don’t connect with the galleries and local artists, there’s not enough critical attention, Chicago can’t compete with LA and NY, etc. Actually, it come out as easily as my breath to shout out a mental “Here, here!” to accompany these tired voices of disappointment. And I could maybe also choose to take a trip down the path of righteousness and talk about people who’ve started galleries with seemingly limitless free financial support and how all the successful galleries are connected in an incestuous web of nepotism and homosexual ego stroking. After all, these are the things I gossip about in my spare time (to people who can’t get back at me, of course)....

...There is also this sea change regarding art fairs’ role in the life of a gallery. While a great load of fun for some people, they have grown over everything like a suffocating mold and swallowed up a whole heap of what an art dealer has to do on any given day. All for the honor of showing work in ramshackle booths along with a fuckthousand other artists. It’s a different job, being a gallery owner, than it was even five years ago...

Read the entire piece here.

Jennie Rose on Southern Exposure at SF

As we continue to expand our coverage, we'd like to introduce Jennie Rose, who will be reporting regularly from California. And if her first piece is an example of the shape of things to come, we've lucked out onto a terrific new voice in the visual arts!

Southern Exposure

By Jennie Rose

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, San Francisco galleries and non profit arts support centers like Southern Exposure (SOEX) were filled with work by “state of the art bohemian poets, underground music heroes, revolutionary skaters, and graffiti kings and queens,” wrote Aaron Rose co-curator of Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture.

Beautiful Losers, an exhibit first shown in San Francisco 2004, encapsulates that period twenty years ago when those at the edges of society were thought to be key to the forward movement of the culture in general.

Jo Jackson, Margaret Kilgallen and Barry McGee, Josh Lazcano, Alicia McCarthy, Clare Rojas, Thomas Campbell, Dan Flanagan, Symantha Gates, Nell Gould and Chris Johanson; These artists’ work showed that they shook off the parsing and packaging of the traditional art world.

The work attracted skaters, freaks and geeks, youth who made no distinction between a performance art piece by an industrial noise band and any other creative endeavors.

Though a few came to this through MFA prestige, Chris Johanson, a skateboarder with no formal art training, began by hanging up some drawings at Adobe Books, a bookshop in San Francisco’s Mission district.

Acting as a kind of ballast for the seismic seizures of the California arts scene, Southern Exposure stays true to its founding principles of the last 35 years: To provide artists--whether they are exhibiting, curating, teaching, or learning—an opportunity to realize ideas for projects that may not otherwise find support.

The organization, which started out like a coop and is now “a pillar in the arts community,” as described by the SOEX Associate Director Aimee Le Duc, is known for nurturing talent, which later becomes celebrated.

True enough, Johanson who has said that his work depicts “a world where nudist dancers, good vibes, emotionally centered people, forest energy and rainbows abut a sinister comic edge,” has a well- established career. In 2003 SF MOMA awarded him a SECA award, and his work was included in both the 2002 Whitney Biennial and the 2003 SITE Santa Fe biennial.


As one nurtured by the support for his ideas, Johanson is invested in the continued success of Southern Exposure. For its 15th annual fundraising auction this year, Johanson donated two pieces, one called “Perception #4,” a color sugarlift aquatint etching.

Other established artists, many who have affinity for or loyalty to SOEX, donated pieces including Catherine Wagner, Andrew Shcoultz, David Ireland and Ajit Chauhan. Chauhan donated “Safe Travels to the Now/Ass You Like It,” a piece in ink and graphite on paper.

The swath of work chosen for the auction always includes artists who participated in any SOEX exhibition of the last three years. Some are invited, such as Vanessa Marsh, a photographer and recent grad from California College of the Arts (CCA), who was invited to participate and is likely to have an exhibition in the future.


One of the most recent to come up through this tradition is Tara Foley who donated “Landscape number 12” a gouache, tape, pencil piece. A week ago Foley just wrapped up Say Hello to Neverending, a solo show at Fecal Face Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Say Hello… charts the symbiotic relationship between destruction and creation by mapping a world ruled by juxtapositions.

“Sometimes we do have work that is purely aesthetic, but then again, when it comes to the artist, it’s really about the work going on the community right now,” says Le Duc.

“Right now it is work which is socially aware, and politically active, such as the work by Hank Willis Thomas.” Thomas donated a digital print called “Black Power,” a close up of a mouth with a gold grill.

“Hank has an uncanny ability to unpack what it is about pop culture that institutionalizes racism,” says Le Duc. “He confronts the co-opting of the black male body. The words ‘black power’ in the grill, this hyper-hyper reality of seeing every pore and hair on this guy’s face takes it to ‘where is the power coming from?’”

Southern Exposure never worries about what sells or looks good, nor does it invoke ideas of a historic or aesthetic canon. “That’s more the business of a museum.”

As Le Duc simply puts it, “We’re in the business of supporting emerging artists and artists and as they create new work. There’s no sense of hierarchy. We stay focused on the overall goal.”

Beginning the move to a new space, Southern Exposure plans to open the doors to spacious Mission district digs in spring of 2009, where it will continue its self-described work as a “daring, nimble, and accessible arts organization.”